A Weyburn man is hoping to raise $5,500 by October to take part in an Arthritis Society fund-raiser held in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Denean Wanner, 23, is a member of the Saskatchewan Joints In Motion Training Team that will run a 42.2-kilometre marathon in Switzerland, starting on the banks of Lake Geneva, on Sunday, Oct. 23.

Wanner, who will depart for Lausanne on Oct. 19 and return on Oct. 25, said he heard about the fund-raiser after seeing a TV commercial about the marathon. He phoned the Arthritis Society of Saskatchewan and signed up for the program.

Wanner said he is doing the marathon partly for "the experience," but also for his grandmother, who "suffered with (arthritis) quite a bit."

"They asked me if I had a family member or friend that's living or has passed on (that had arthritis)," he said. "I told them I'm going to run in her memory."

Wanner, who has never been out of Canada, was given the choice of several other locations to do the marathon, including Honolulu or the Grand Canyon, but instead opted for Lausanne, a city surrounded by the Alps, vineyards and lush wooded areas.

Wanner has never run a marathon before. But because he's young and does a lot of walking, he said he is hoping to run the entire 42.2-kilometre stretch.

Though most participants become involved in a 20-week training program, Wanner is opting to train mostly on his own because practices mostly occur in Regina.

To participate in the marathon, Wanner must raise $5,500. He is currently going door-to-door in Weyburn collecting pledges, but he has just started and has a long way to go. He's also hoping to organize some other fund-raisers to aid his efforts.

Anyone wanting to make a contribution should call Wanner in Weyburn. Alternatively, they can also call the Arthritis Society in Regina if necessary.

Though some of the money he raises will go to travel expenses, people may wrongly assume they are paying for a participant's vacation, said Cindy Kobayashi, co-ordinator of the Joints In Motion program.

In fact, Kobayashi said the Arthritis Society is able to put most of the money towards their programming, thanks in part to generous corporate sponsorships

"Seventy cents of every dollar will be going directly to our client services, education programs and research," said Kobayashi.

The Joints in Motion Marathon first started in the U.S., but was piloted in Saskatchewan in 1999. It became the national signature event for the Canadian Arthritis Society two years later.

Kobayashi said there are roughly 36 members of the Saskatchewan team going to Lausanne.

Arthritis is a widespread condition within Canada, with roughly 148,000 sufferers in Saskatchewan alone. It is estimated that one in every six Canadians has arthritis.